beatnik living: Ashley Hanson

I literally want to steal all these paintings and make wallpaper out of them. Ashley Hanson is a contemporary artist who was born in England in 1960. The first set of paintings are from Ashley Hanson's 2013 series City of Glass, inspired by the book of the same name. I love the vibrant use of color and the variations in texture and brush stroke. Certain areas look like the paint was applied with a brush, while other areas look like a palette knife was used.

One of my favorite thing about Hanson's work is that a lot of his paintings are inspired by novels and places. I love how his interpretation of places and destinations translates into his work.

"The idea for 'The Englands' came looking out to sea from Cape Cornwall. ' Here I was , at the end of England, looking towards America, remembering that I had stood on the other side of the ocean, looking towards England.' The Englands....,' the words struck a chord, the places on the edge, the shared landscape, the shared history, the shared place names, connected by the Atlantic Ocean. I was excited by the prospect of interlinking my American and my Cornish work and painting about the two places at the same time, the wild east and the wild west!. Producing the work for 'The Englands' presented me with one of my greatest challenges as for the first time the words came before the work." -Ashley Hanson on his series The Englands 1.

Here are some pieces from his series titled The Englands 1.

"Lakeshore Ltd.', 'California Zephyr', 'Sunset Ltd.' and 'Crescent' are the names of the Amtrak train-lines that I took on my journey around the States in 1997. The inspiration for 'Arizona' came from a passage in Don deLillos 'Underworld' where a group of artists are stripping and repainting decommissioned B52 bombers, neatly parked in the Arizona Desert." -Ashley Hanson on his series USA 1.

This series is amazing. I love how he combines a literal representation of the USA with an imaginative interpretation. Each painting seems to be reminiscent of a sunset; it makes me think of old Western movies, which really defined American culture back then.